Hi!

The deadline has passed, and our petition has grown to 421 signatures!

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who is willing to take a stand against jobseeker manipulation.

Even though the deadline for signatures has now passed, the fight still isn't over.  We have completed Step 1, and now we need to work through Step 2 - forewarning Centrelink and Workforce Australia that they're about to have a huge reality check coming their way that they cannot just brush off.  The simple way to perform that step is to send an email to the CEO's of Centrelink and Workforce Australia with the subject line Unfair treatment of jobseekers, along with the following message:

Good morning/afternoon _(first name of CEO)_,

I am emailing to express my concern about your manipulative behaviour towards jobseekers.  This has been going on since Jobactive became Workforce Australia.  I now speak on behalf of all jobseekers living across the country.

Many of us have made various complaints in the past about your mistreatment of us and your manipulative behaviour towards us, along with other countless issues, but you have continued to brush those complaints off and refuse to listen to us.  We have continued to complain about the mandatory activity requirements that are imposed on us being a waste of our valuable time and money, and you still refuse to listen to us.

We will not let you get away with your manipulation, mistakes and ignorance any longer.  You will soon receive a petition calling on your companies to stop manipulating jobseekers and permanently abolish all mandatory activity requirements.  The petition isn't something you can just brush off and put aside because it will serve as a big reality check for not only yourself, but your employees as well.  We need you to take the petition seriously and reform your jobseeker rules so that the only obligation we have is to search and apply for jobs at our own pace without having to attend compulsory appointments with our job coaches, attend short courses, undertake voluntary work placements or agree to job plans.  Obligations that serve for what is an unattainable goal are not obligations - they are simply just tasks that hinder our hopes for scoring ourselves a job, and anything that hinders the situation should not be in the rulebook.

If you refuse to put 100% commitment into this, we will file reports to the Fair Work Ombudsman and have them take your companies to court for treating us unfairly.

Sincerely,

_(Your name)_

Simply copy and paste the subject line and message above into the email that you send and edit the (first name of CEO) and (Your name) sections.

I will continue to keep you all in the loop as I work through the next steps.